


The Man of Many Smiles

by CenterFrame (WaterWych)



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Character Study, Gender-Neutral Apprentice, Implied Memory Loss, Implied Past Relationships, Introspection, Light Angst, Multi, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 11:19:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12431703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaterWych/pseuds/CenterFrame
Summary: The meaning of his tight-lipped grins was almost never clear, but you were sure of one thing.He was a man of many smiles.





	The Man of Many Smiles

Asra is a man of many smiles, a collection of grins and smirks reserved for only a couple seconds, or not at all.

They are vague, dancing behind your peripheral vision an intangible definition into something you could never quite catch.

Always on the tip of your tongue, but inaccessible. Stowed away in the stuffy recesses of your mind where the blank spots ticked like clockwork; impossible to snag.

Slipping through your fingers like the silk of his shirts.

His grins to you were the ones you hated. Saddened lips curled into an expression unbefitting of the rather carefree, lackadaisical witch. Masking a pain you wished to dig your fingers into and unravel, yet never could for the barriers erected around that rigged guise were impenetrable.

The meaning of his smiles unclear – vague and mysterious.

Hinting at something you never truly understood.

Asra would turn his splattered gaze to you, irises steeped in a rim of glittery violet, hard pressed like pieces of amethyst, and produce his finest face.

This half-joyed yet painfully contrived smile thin and weary against the curvature of his lips.

As if he was afraid you’d disappear again.

Gone in a whisk of dangling beads and gold chains never to be seen or heard of.

Whenever you ask about the unsure look in his eyes, the indescribable smile, he only shakes his mane of nacre hair and hides the ache behind his teeth in a wide, unassuming grin; playful yet weak.

_Don’t ask questions I can’t give you answers to._

And he’s gone again in the morning, just before the pastel rays of sunlight can come and wash away the cold, unrelenting star-soaked Vesuvian night.

Before you even have a chance to pick through the splinters burrowed in his fractured heart. The unamendable organ glazed over in tattered scars too haphazardly healed from; unable to piece together the puzzle festering within his chest.

Taking with him his gaudy clothing and quiet mannerism you’ve come to love.

The scent of alchemical herbs and uninformative behavior you’ve come to hate.

The treasure trove of vague smiles wrapped around an unreadable ire of velvet covered lies.

The meaning of his tight-lipped grins was almost never clear, but you were sure of one thing.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

 

He was a man of many smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm jumping onto the The Arcana bandwagon! It's such a beautiful game, and is written so wonderfully, how could I not? The characters are all so tragic in their own way, and since I love tragedy, their grief is my inspiration; a little sadistic, isn't it? 
> 
> But I hope you all enjoy this very short read. Comments and reviews are always appreciated~


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